About 5 years ago, when Will was just 3, it was discovered that he had a dairy allergy. The night we rushed him to the ER scratching furiously and welted up from chest to eyes still lives nightmarishly on in my mind. After getting the diagnosis of dairy allergy from an excellent allergist the whole family went dairy free. The only thing we ever missed was cheese. There is no good substitute for dairy cheese! I used to drink several glasses of milk a day and now I cannot bear the taste of it. It became so easy to live without dairy, and everyone in the family-from sibs to grandparents- was supportive and went out of their way to accommodate Will.
Then, about a year ago we decided to try some dairy on Will to see if things had changed for him. Lo and behold, he had no reaction to it. No eczema, no itching, no allergic shiners. I started worrying less about a bit of dairy here and there. We even had ice cream on occasion! Zounds! He never had a single reaction.
Until this past Saturday.
I noticed he had a few red bumps around his mouth. Then a few more. Then I noticed the red rash peeking out from his shirt collar. His chest was a rashy mess! Then one eye got a big red "shiner". I was astounded. We hadn't seen this kind of thing in literally years because we had avoided dairy so well. There are pictures to document it, but I can't bear to post them.
Then mommy guilt kicked in. We have had a ton of dairy lately. I remembered the chocolate cheesecake we had on Thursday... The cheese sticks I tossed to the kids in the car on Wednesday. The Mac and cheese twice the week before... Then there was the cheese in the bean and rice burrito.... Carmel corn.. buttered popcorn...Parmesan cheese crackers...heavy cream in a soup....cheese on a sandwich...chocolates snitched from Nana's candy dish.... and who knows what else.
I could just cry. Daily intake of dairy was obviously too much for him, especially at this time of year with pollens and molds flying rampant through the air. Can you say allergen overload?
I am sooooooooo guilt ridden right now. The rash is finally subsiding and the itching is "Not so itchy" as Will puts it. He has been dosed with Benedryl every 4 hours the past few days. Poor kid.
So, needless to say, we are back to dairy free. It's really not a problem to make substitutions, just a matter of being diligent about reading labels.
Mea Culpa. Mea Culpa.
3 comments:
Oh, poor mama. Poor Will. Hopefully all will be set aright by a return to dairy free life.
How were you to know it would return? Don't feel guilty... you were just giving them all the good stuff most kids tolerate and relish, and lots of kids outgrow allergies - maybe he might have been one of them?
This was a good test of what he can tolerate and now you can settle in and become a dairy-free expert/guru/queen of the bloggers.
But, alas, cheese, how we love you! It would be hard for me to do without it entirely. No one would notice if you slipped into the closet with a slab of brie fortnightly, would they?
Aw, I'm sorry this happened. Like Barb said, now you know what he can tolerate. I'm sorry he's still got the allergy -- it was looking really good for awhile, so how were you to know? Hugs to you and Will.
Thanks, guys. I can't help but feel mommy guilt though. It's just the way it is. Don't want to make any mistakes with these kiddos, right? Thankfully he is doing better now and hasn't been itchy all day today (Thursday). He still looks ill though. Red eyes, a little bit of the rash hanging on. Getting better though, thank goodness.
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